Hector's and Maui's dolphins, which live around the shores of Aotearoa/New Zealand, are amongst the rarest marine dolphins in the world. But unless urgent action is taken these amazing creatures could become extinct within a generation. Scientists estimate over 26,000 Hector's dolphins inhabited the coastal waters of New Zealand's South Island in the 1970s. But today, there is a struggling population of a little over 7,000. Maui's dolphins, the North Island cousin of Hector's dolphin, fare even worse and now number just 110 - making them critically endangered.

WWF New Zealand is working to get 40,000 petitions signed before October 22 to help save these animals from extinction. So far some 22,000 have signed. WWF wants the New Zealand government to strengthen their proposed action plan for the dolphins. www.stoptheirextinction.org.nz today. New Zealand is the only place on the planet that Hector's and Maui's dolphins are found. Thank you for helping ensure they survive and recover.

Lida
The petition is up on the front page and hopefully it will help garner support for these 2 dolphins. I've photographed Hector's but never seen the Maui's. We just lost the Baiji/Yangtze River dolphin to the extinct list. Hopefully there won't be another mammal put on that list so soon after the last one.

Drew
Moderator
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